Northeast Conference To Add Men's Swimming & Diving As 24th Championship Sport 9/8/2020 Click Here For PDF Release Somerset, NJ -- The Northeast Conference (NEC) is taking the plunge. Today NEC Commissioner Noreen Morris officially announced the addition of men's swimming and diving as the league's 24th championship sport beginning with the 2020-21 season. Men's swimming and diving will commence with five members vying for the NEC crown next February. Bryant, LIU, Mount St. Mary's, St. Francis Brooklyn and associate member Howard will be the initial conference schools to sponsor the sport. "We are always looking to expand our offerings and provide our student-athletes with a championship experience, so I'm thrilled to add men's swimming and diving to our growing sport roster," said Morris. "We're especially thankful to be joined by Howard University, whose addition helped make this launch possible. I'm looking forward to a festival-like setting alongside some top notch competition this winter when the men join the women in East Meadow, NY for our conference championship meet!" The inaugural championship will take place at the Nassau County Aquatic Center in East Meadow, NY on February 17-20, 2021. The meet will be held concurrently with the NEC Women's Swimming & Diving Championships. Men's swimming and diving is the first newly sponsored sport added to the NEC roster since men's lacrosse in 2011. Field hockey was reinstated as a conference sport in 2019 following a seven-year hiatus. Men's swimming and diving has held NCAA Division I championship sport status since 1937. Currently, there are 143 NCAA DI institutions who sponsor the sport. In the absence of automatic team qualifiers, access to the NCAA Swimming & Diving Championships is based on individual qualifying standards. About The Northeast Conference Beginning its 40th anniversary season, the Northeast Conference is an NCAA Division I collegiate athletic association consisting of 10 institutions of higher learning located throughout seven states. Media coverage of the NEC extends to a number of the largest markets in the United States - New York (#1), Boston (#9), Baltimore (#26), Hartford/New Haven (#33) and Providence (#53). Founded in 1981 as the basketball-only ECAC Metro Conference, the NEC has grown to sponsor 24 championship sports for men and women and now enjoys automatic access to 16 different NCAA Championships. NEC member institutions include Bryant, Central Connecticut, Fairleigh Dickinson, LIU, Merrimack, Mount St. Mary’s, Sacred Heart, St. Francis Brooklyn, Saint Francis U and Wagner. For more information on the NEC, visit the league’s official website (www.northeastconference.org) and digital network (www.necfrontrow.com), or follow the league on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram and Snapchat, all @NECsports.